Predjama Cave Castle
| Predjama Cave Castle | ||
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 Predjamski Grad (Lueg Castle) |
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| Creation time : | 12th century | |
| Castle type : | Cave castle | |
| Conservation status: | Well preserved | |
| Place: | Predjama | |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 48 '56.9 " N , 14 ° 7' 37.4" E | |
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The Lueg Castle ( Predjamski Grad ) is located in the village of Predjama , nine kilometers from Postojna (Adelsberg) in Slovenia . The castle is located in a cave portal called Erazmova Jama ( Erasmus Cave ).
location
At the end of the valley, in which the Lokva brook seeps under a 123 meter high rock wall, the castle was built in a large cave halfway up the rock wall.
history
Old Stone Age
Archaeological excavations in the 1950s showed that this cave was inhabited during the Paleolithic .
Construction of the castle in the 12th century
In the 12th century a castle was built into the inaccessible rock face. The residential wing of the old castle was on the site of the current facility. The hole (Luknja) served as a hiding place, which can only be reached via a rocky ridge on a 60-meter-deep abyss and from which a secret passage ended 38 meters on the mountain top.
The complex was owned by the Patriarchs of Aquileia and the Habsburgs .
Erasmus von Luegg (15th century)
The most famous lord of the castle was the robber baron Erasmus von Luegg. During the fighting between Emperor Friedrich III. and the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus he served the Hungarians. After the execution of his friend Andreas Baumkircher at the behest of the emperor, Erasmus killed an imperial relative in a dispute and fled from the death penalty to Predjama Castle.
Because of multiple attacks on merchants, Luegg was to be arrested by the captain of Trieste, Baron Niklas von Rauber . The siege of Predjama lasted more than a year and was unsuccessful. The besieged mocked the soldiers and pelted them with fried ox meat and fresh cherries. To the astonishment of his besiegers, Luegg is said to have taken care of himself via the secret cave system in the grotto . In 1484, with the help of a traitorous servant, the besiegers succeeded in killing Erasmus von Luegg: While going to the toilet , he was killed with stone bullets. However, it is said to be a legend that is kept for tourists .
The castle was rebuilt in 1570
The new castle with its current three to four storey shape dates from 1570. The construction was initiated by Johann Cobenzl Freiherr von Prossegg zu Lueg . Other lords of the castle were Count Michael Coronini von Cronberg from 1810 and Prince Windisch-Graetz in 1846 .
Museum and show cave
There is a museum in the castle and in parts of the cave . Weapons, household items, pictures and tools are on display. For several years it has also been possible to visit the cave yourself.
After a burglary, the secret passage was walled up at the beginning of the 17th century and only opened, navigated and closed again by speleologists after the Second World War . The passage has been exposed again since around 2000.
The Erasmus Cave is the third floor of a four-story cave system: the bottom floor is traversed by the Lokva stream, contains siphons and can only be accessed by cave explorers with special equipment. On the guided cave tour, equipped with flashlights, you enter the second floor directly below the castle. A spacious cave passage, which was previously used as a horse stable and was equipped with electric light, leads to a sparingly developed cave system. You climb up to the third floor via metal stairs and then leave the cave above the castle.
literature
- Johann Weichard Valvasor : The honor of the Hertzogthums Crain . Leybach, Nuremberg 1689, IV. Pp. 518-530.
- France Got : Predjama - the castle and the cave. Postojna (Adelsberg) 1981.
- Branko Reisp : Predjama - Kulturni in naravni spomeniki Slovenije - Zbirka vodnikov št. 72. (Predjama - Lueg, Cultural and Natural Monuments of Slovenia - Guide Collection No. 72) , Ljubljana 1977.
- Alfons Müllner: The Lueg Castle in Innerkrain. Argo I 1892, col. 14-15, tab. II; III 1894, col. 57-66, 105-114, tab. IV, V, VI.
- Simon Rutar: Castle and rule (manor) Lueg. In: Mittheilungen des Musealverein für Krain (MMK) 8, 1895, pp. 2–11, 45–57, 94–103.
Movie
- Wild castles - Predjama. Documentary film, Germany, 2017, 42:54 min., Script and director: Michael R. Gärtner, production: taglicht media, arte , ZDF , series: Wilde Schlösser , first broadcast: November 2, 2017 on arte, summary by ARD .
Others
The Lueg castle was used as a template for a map in the computer game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive .
Web links
- Lueg cave castle (Predjamska grad). In: dickemauern.de
- Predjama Castle and Adelsberg Grottoes (multilingual)
- Predjamska Jama (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ In the town of Predjama there is next to the Gothic church also the Erasmus linden tree , which is completely hollow and the interior of which with numerous knotholes offers a fascinating view. It was planted on the grave of Erasmus von Luegg.